


A Contest of Strength

by 1000001nights



Series: Tales From Thedas [2]
Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Skyhold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 10:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4603272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000001nights/pseuds/1000001nights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Iron Bull, Fenris, Krem and Cassandra enter into a contest of strength, with unexpected results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Contest of Strength

"Is that the best you got?”

“Come on, you’re gonna kill ‘vints with those arms?”

“They told me you were Hawke’s strongest companion! What is this crap?”

“ _What_ is going on here?”

Cassandra wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She’d had little patience for the qunari in the past, but somehow she found that already low bar wearing thin. In a corner of Skyhold, where she was used to practicing her drills, Bull had arranged a collection of metal beams, sticks, staves, and weights, clunkily lashed together with whatever leather, cloth - and most disturbingly, a collection of vines and weeds - that had been on hand. Bull loomed over a plank of wood set on two logs, upon which lay a tall, thin, dark-skinned elf. He lowered the weight in both hands, and sat up, sweat glistening on his caramel skin, his white hair tousled, sweat-stained, shimmering silver in the light.

Cassandra looked him up and down. White lines in ornate, elven patterns ran along his bare arms, and across his bare stomach, chest, and up along his neck, disappearing into the shock of hair he wore, which was shaved above his ears on either side of his head, where more tattoos shone. “Is there a problem?” he asked, his voice low, angry, jealous, and red with a need to fight.

“This is my workspace,” Cassandra said, flustered. She was still incredulous at what she was seeing. “This is where I… What is the meaning of this??”

“Don’t worry Seeker,” Bull said. “We didn’t touch anything. But there wasn’t enough room in the tavern.”

“Am I supposed to be pleased? Who is this elf?” Cassandra turned her steely eyes towards him. “Who are you?” she spat.

“You can call me Fenris,” he said, massaging the back of his neck with a wince. Cassandra was almost shaking in her jerkin. “What are you doing here?” she fumed.

“Hawke sent for me,” Fenris said plainly. He shrugged, as if it the whole thing mattered little, or not at all. “I got a message as I passed by Amaranthine. I wasn’t far. My ship is anchored off the Storm Coast.”

“He’s good people, Cassandra,” Bull said, almost pleading. Like a child, who wanted to resume his game. “We got to talking, he doesn’t like the ‘vints much either,” Bull added, as if Cassandra would agree and everything would be fine. “We had an idea, and we are just having some friendly competition to settle a score.”

“ _Were_ having, more like. Did the elf already beat you, boss?”

Krem appeared around the corner of the tavern, carrying more odds and ends, likely to add weight to the contraptions the men were lifting. “Stronger than he looks,” Krem said, depositing his things onto the pile.

“This is ridiculous,” Cassandra groaned.

“You’re welcome to join us, Seeker,” Bull said, a wink in his tone and in his one good eye.

“I would not debase myself by entering into such a petty contest of strength,” Cassandra said proudly.

“But you kinda wanna try, huh?”

All eyes turned to Cassandra. The qunari was smirking, the elf had something bubbling behind his mysterious eyes, and Krem seemed simply curious, uncertain what the typically stoic Seeker would do. Would she rise to the challenge? Would she storm off? Would Bull be in for it once again? “All I have to do is lift this weight?” she asked.

“HA!” Bull cried triumphantly.

“If you can manage it,” Fenris said, stepping off the bench. Cassandra fixed him with a challenging glare. She unlaced the straps on her breastplate and let it fall to the ground.

“You might wanna take off that Seeker banner, too,” Bull said tentatively. “Don’t want it getting tangled up in your face while you try and lift.”

Cassandra silenced him with a glare, and took her position on the board. “Ugh,” she grumbled. “This is extremely uncomfortable.”

“It’s not about comfort, Seeker,” Bull said. “It’s about _power_.” He clenched his gut, and his pecks rose and tensed. Krem laughed, and Cassandra tried to keep her cheeks from flushing. “What am I to do now?”

“Just take hold of this,” Bull said, indicating the beam, with odds and ends fastened on either side, “and lift.”

“And then I win?” Cassandra asked, tightening her grip around the staff.

“Well, then we see who can lift more,” Bull said.

“This is ridiculous.” Cassandra looked like she might get up and leave without trying, but Bull put a stop to that quickly with a gentle wave of his hand. “Come on,” he said. “It’s just a little fun.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes, and heaved with all her might. An ugly groan escaped her lips, and her face twisted up with the effort and the strain, but she managed to get the staff off its holster, and after lowering it down to her breast, she managed to raise it to its fullest height, to great cheers of approval from Bull, Fenris, and Krem. “That’s it!” Bull said. “Ha! I knew you had it in you. Time to add more weight.”

 

“ _What_ is going on here?” A voice called from across the courtyard.

A redheaded woman was approaching from the steps leading to the main hall, breaking up a pair of soldiers training inside a makeshift ring. She wore stately armour befitting her position, and a striped red scarf around her neck, which billowed in the breeze along with her brazen, ginger hair. “Fenris, I told you if I ever saw you again I’d have you thrown in the stockade.”

“This isn’t Kirkwall, marm,” Fenris said casually. “Take it up with the Inquisitor.”

Cassandra sat up, a guilty look on her face, less for having participated, and more for having enjoyed it. Krem stepped gingerly away until his back was against the wall, and Bull crossed his arms defensively, but his face told a different story. “Who is this?” he asked flirtatiously, nudging Fenris with his huge elbow.

“This is Aveline Vallen,” Fenris said with a hint of mocking, as he announced her full title, “captain of the Kirkwall guard, here on a diplomatic mission to meet with the Inquisition.”

“I am here to visit Varric and Hawke,” Aveline said. She then crossed her arms, and blew an errant strand of hair out of her face frustratedly. “Because he… told me there was an urgent diplomatic meeting to attend.” She set her jaw, and her brow lowered over her clear eyes as she stared at Fenris. “Can I assume you got a similar missive?” she asked.

“No,” Fenris shrugged. “I was nearby, and I wanted to see Hawke.”

“Well, that’s done,” Aveline said. “Shall I escort you back to Kirkwall?”

“Hold on, Red,” Bull said, stepping between the feuding former companions. He nodded his head at the bench where Cassandra was still sitting, his huge horns swaying. “Wanna give it a try?”

“Oh no,” Fenris said. “Bad idea, qunari.” He took his place beside Bull, shoulder-to-shoulder, and fixed Aveline with a challenging look. “Aveline hates contests.”

“I do not,” she said defensively. She looked past the two men, obviously goading her, to Cassandra. “You’re a part of this? Is that a Seeker’s pendant you wear?” Cassandra looked angrily at Bull, and Krem stifled a laugh from behind her. “I - I was…” she stammered. She looked at each of them in turn for some assistance, but they offered none. “Yes,” she concluded guiltily.

Aveline looked from Cassandra to Krem to Fenris to Bull, silencing them all. “You look strong,” she said, aiming her statement at Cassandra but staring at Fenris with a mix of admiration and hatred. Cassandra shrugged. All at once, Aveline undid both straps holding her pauldrons in place. They fell off her shoulders, and she began unbuckling the rest of her armour. “Fenris, help me,” she ordered, and the elf snapped to attention. Soon, she was all but naked, her breasts covered by a swatch of cloth, her legs clothed, bare muscles rippling in her stomach, shoulders, arms and back. She cracked her knuckles as Krem collected her armour. Bull never took his eye off her.

“Alright, move,” Aveline said, shoving past the gawking men. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“She’s feisty,” Bull said privately to Fenris. The elf chuckled wryly. “I warned you,” he said. Aveline lowered herself into position as the others looked on. She wrapped her hands around the staff and breathed steadily. She could feel the weight at once, and then her biceps and triceps twisted, snaking around her arm. “Is this the best you can do?” she grunted, and lifted the weight with no apparent effort. “I’ll add more!” Cassandra said, and rushed to the pile, Krem helping her sift through the best of the junk they’d collected. From the main hall, Varric trundled up behind the unlikely congregation, careful to keep out of Cassandra’s view. Fenris noticed him, and nodded respectfully.

“Glad you came to visit?” Varric asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Fenris said, before hurrying off to help them add more weight as Bull took his place on the bench.

“Oh, I’ve got to write this down,” Varric said before slipping silently away.

A voice catcalled from above, and Varric noticed Sera’s window was open.

“Come on Ginger! Show the boys what you’ve got!”


End file.
